Worth it
by dormiralabelleetoiles
Summary: Post BoO, my take on Calypso's and Leo's journey after they left Ogygia. Mostly written for the fluff! R&R


**A/N: Whoa. I haven't written anything in a while. And this is my first Percy Jackson story, and it's a little rushed and fairly plotless. But I was so itching to write, especially after that gods awful ending (SO MANY LOOSE ENDS RICK. SO MANY.) So here's my take it on what would've happened after the last book with Caleo (3)**

* * *

It was exhilarating.

The feel of the sharp wind through his hair, the slight panic of trying to hold onto Festus as they soared and Calypso screaming in delight behind him. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Leo's waist and her body flush against him, and Leo decided this was the best combination of sensations he ever experienced.

"This is amazing!" Calypso shouted, in effort to be heard above the roaring wind rushing past their ears.

"It's about to get a whole lot better," Leo yelled back. He pulled upwards on Festus' head and the bronze dragon followed the instruction by shooting directly upwards. They were now vertical in the sky, which meant Calypso had to hold onto Leo tighter than ever (much to his pleasure) and her screams became higher pitched. Then, without warning, Festus lowered his angle and performed two loop-de-loops. Leo's stomach was flying all over the place (within the limits of his newly reborn body of course).

Festus continued manoeuvring in the air, from zig-zags to simply shooting downwards for that terrifying/amazing lurch. It was only when Calypso complained of feeling sick Leo decided it would be time to land.

They broke through the clouds and immediately saw the coastline of a country. They descended in plain view of the mortals but Leo knew that the Mist would conceal the fact a massive metal dragon was hovering above the city.

They landed on a moderately busy beach and as expected, no one gave them a second look.

"Where are we?" Calypso whispered as she slid off the dragon. Leo noticed she had lost the excited look on her face and replaced with something akin to fear. Then Leo realised – Calypso had never been around so many people before (well, it had been around 3000 years at least).

He took her hand in his and looked around for signs. With a sudden jolt he realised they were in Barcelona, and therefore Spanish was spoken here. At least he could be useful for one thing!

"Spain," Leo said. "Want to get something to eat? I bet you've never had Spanish food."

Calypso playfully glared at him, but then nodded. Her wide smile returned and Leo's spirits were lifted once again.

* * *

Calypso and Leo sat outside on a table for two, tucking into paella. Leo ate ravenously – clearly it had been a while since he last ate, having died and all. He only stopped when Calypso asked him a question.

"So, what happened?"

Leo paused. "You mean with defeating Gaia and her giant babies?"

"Yeah… I mean, did you? You managed to ruin my un-ruinable clothes, so I thought something big had happened," Calypso smirked. _Gods_ Leo thought, _how can a smile be so sexy?_

Leo proceeded to tell her everything that had happened after he left Ogygia. All the monsters they fought, the weird puzzles they always seem to encounter and he made sure to mention how he rewired the automaton statue of Hygeia. He talked about the Physician's cure (since it brought him back the life), all the Gods they met (Calypso offered input if she had met them too) and of course, Leo mentioned all six of his good friends. When he did, he felt a pang in his heart, because he still didn't know how they were – if they were even still alive. But he buried his guilty conscience and concentrated on Calypso. Oh, beautiful, snarky, sarcastic Calypso.

After he told her how he sacrificed himself to blast Gaia into smithereens so she was so distorted she would never have a conscience again, she was pretty much up to speed.

"Wow," Calypso murmured, obviously speechless.

"Yeah," Leo said.

A tear formed in her left eye, near where that adorable freckle was. She covered his hand with hers and gazed at him like he was a hero.

"I didn't think it was possible to love you even more than I already did," she said. "… sorry that was cheesy." She laughed but Leo couldn't laugh with her. He was too stunned.

"You love me," he stated. "A really hot, clever, talented, gorgeous girl _loves_ me."

Calypso blushed furiously at the string of compliments.

"Of course I do, you silly mechanic!"

Eventually Leo snapped out of his reverie. He grasped Calypso's hand tightly and with the other hand threw some euros on the table.

"Let's do some exploring, Sunshine."

* * *

Explore they did. Leo found Barcelona to be a beautiful city, with extraordinary architecture (Annabeth would _freak_ ) and judging from the wide-eyed, excited expression permanently on Calypso's face he thought she felt the same. They walked down the nostalgic side streets of the _Barri Gothic_ and tried not to buy every item of food at the markets on _La Ramblas_ (though they did come out with some smoothies) and Leo almost convinced Calypso to have her portrait drawn by a street artist.

"I would hang it in my bedroom so I can see your face every second of every day. Clearly every man's goal in life," Leo said. Unfortunately, Hazel's drawing of Calypso had burned away in the explosion, thus at that very moment Leo had no pictures of Calypso – and this had to be changed as soon as possible.

"I don't fancy sitting there for 25 minutes with all those people staring at me!" Calypso hissed. She had rarely let go of Leo's hand the whole day and kept close, as if she wanted to stay as far away from other people as possible.

"It can't be that bad…"

"Why don't you do it?" Calypso grinned. "I would love to have a picture of _you_ too!"

"Pfft!" Leo snorted. "I'm just a scrawny little kid and therefore picture _awfully_ , you on the other hand are a stunningly beautiful goddess. Now, let's go get ice-cream, I think I can see a gelato stand over there." Calypso was whisked away in Leo's pull before she could respond.

The sky danced with orange and pink hues as the Sun set in Spain that evening. Festus was still snoring on the beach when the couple approached him, apparently undisturbed the entire day. The Mist was working as well as ever.

Calypso forced Leo to buy some new clothes since his current ones were in tatters, so he decided to buy blue jeans and a white T-shirt to match/annoy Calypso. She actually found it endearing more than anything. Ice creams in hand, they sat on top of Festus and looked out onto the sandy shore.

A few minutes passed with companionable silence before Calypso spoke.

"Today was the best day of my life." She stated, matter of factly. Leo turned to face her and grinned. He leaned in and gently kissed her. Traces of ice-cream merged with the kiss, so chocolate met strawberry in a delicious mix. He even dared running his tongue along the outline of her lips which Calypso seemed to appreciate. Eventually Leo pulled away, leaving Calypso looking a little distraught.

"Did it get a little better?" Leo waggled his eyebrows. Calypso giggled, and dared to move even closer to him.

"Leo Valdez… " she breathed. "Do you love me?"

" _Yes_!" Leo was shocked. "Jeez, Sunshine, I thought you were a smart gal! Why ask dumb questions like that?"

"Because I said 'I love you' before and you didn't say anything back," Calypso admitted. Leo looked a little sheepish then.

"Gods, Calypso… I hoped you hadn't picked up on that," Leo chuckled. He brought his palm up to her cheek and twiddled a lock of amber hair between his fingers. It was very silky.

"I'm still finding it hard to believe that I could be so lucky to meet a girl like you who loves me back," Leo continued, this time serious. "I'm afraid to admit to it, because if I do, it would make it ten times worse if someone took you away from me. I guess I feel like this is a dream, because frankly it's a dream come true. But it's _real_ and _amazing_ and from this moment on, I am going to savour every second I spend with you. So you're right, I should've said 'I love you' back, cos gods darn it, I _freaking_ love you Calypso." Leo said this whilst looking into Calypso's almond eyes, which wasn't hard to do because they were endlessly captivating.

Calypso was speechless, so Leo felt like he was successful. After a minute, Calypso spoke again.

"You also need to stop putting yourself down all the time Leo. You're not a 'scrawny little kid'!" Calypso half-shouted this, obviously from frustration.

"Um… Okay…" Leo blinked.

"I'm serious! There are several thousand reasons I am in love with you, a choice few being how noble you are, brave, intelligent, determined, optimistic… and that you saved me from that wretched island."

At that point, Leo's hands burst into flames. Fortunately, they weren't near enough to Calypso to burn her, but she retreated slightly out of reflex.

"Sorry," Leo muttered. "I mean, both for my hands and y'know, having a schist low self esteem."

"Schist?"

"I'll explain later," Leo smirked. Calypso sighed.

"Don't apologise, it's not your fault. If all else fails, just remember that…" Calypso blushed, "that I can see your muscles through your shirt."

Leo looked down at his chest.

"Knew I should've got a size up…" Leo said, but it was clear he was very flattered.

The sky was a deep blue now, and a few lone stars were twinkling over them. The beach was deserted and had the Mist not been there they would've been told to leave (after being asked about the massive dragon they were sitting on top of) but instead this meant there was a great opportunity for camping.

Leo had packed blankets, a lantern and two pillows in the underbelly of Festus so a comfortable sleeping arrangement could easily be sorted out (Calypso specifically asked for her own handmade blanket, so Leo had dig around her suitcases for them). Festus snorted and smoke shot out of his nose. Leo knew this meant he was bored of sitting on the beach all day.

"We'll go somewhere else tomorrow, I promise," Leo soothed. Festus creaked grudgingly in response.

"Like Camp Half-Blood?" Calypso asked.

"Would you like to?" Leo was surprised to hear disappointment in his voice, but he couldn't help feeling Calypso was bored of him already.

"I would love to meet your demigod friends," Calypso said. "It would also be fun to see Percy Jackson." Leo wasn't sure whether she was joking or not.

"He's uh, really sorry by the way that he left you on Ogygia, but he really couldn't stay. Demigod quests and all that," Leo felt weird for speaking on Percy's behalf.

"It's OK, I don't care about him in that way. Since I'm in love with you, and all," Calypso said pointedly, as if to remind Leo. For the millionth time that day, a massive grin broke out across his face.

"Anyway, I want to tell people about how I have a boyfriend now, even if I've never met them before! Which is obviously silly, but I guess that's an inherent teenage girl thing." Calypso grinned.

"Speaking of which," Leo began, as he walked over to the makeshift bed and gently tugged Calypso with him, "Do you think you're still immortal?"

"Not sure… but frankly, I don't really care." Calypso decided, and the matter was concluded.

They snuggled against each other on the blankets, as Leo drank up the beautiful scene around him – the waves lapping against the shore, the cool summer breeze, the constellations burning in the sky above him and Calypso snoring gently in his arms, at peace with the world and with the Gods, as she was finally free.

It took all of Leo's strength for his hands not to set on fire.

* * *

Calypso was crying.

She shook in his arms, sniffling. Leo was apparently woken up by it, and he couldn't bare it.

"Sunshine, what's wrong?" he whispered, stroking her arms.

"Gods!" she seemed shocked. "I didn't realize you were awake."

"Look at me," Leo said.

Calypso turned, somewhat reluctantly. Even under the moonlight Leo could tell her eyes were red and puffy.

"Hey… what's up?"

Calypso shook her head. "Nothing… I-I just realised I never properly s-said goodbye to Ogygia. I know it was my prison for ages but it was _home_ too."

Leo thought of the beautiful garden he had observed Calypso attending to. It was clear she put in loads of effort into it, so Leo could empathise. It would be like if he left Festus behind forever, or the Argo II (though he _had_ actually lost that, but reuniting with the love of his life kind of took his mind off that).

"I get it, Sunshine. I mean, we could go back if you want, but I don't know if a man can find Ogygia _three_ times let alone twice!" Leo laughed. This seemed to make Calypso slightly less upset.

They were lying very close to each other, as if sharing a bed. Leo could've counted every freckle on her delicate nose, memorized the unique pattern of her irises and locate the exact position of her dimples had it not been nighttime. His heartbeat went into overtime whenever he felt her breath caress his neck, and his heart was already beating faster than normal.

With Calypso's next suggestion, Leo almost got a heart attack.

"Wanna go for a swim?"

"… I don't have my swimming costume," Leo said blandly.

"Neither do I!" Calypso leapt up and ran to the sea shore. Leo followed, dazed at her sudden change of mood.

"Swimming in the sea surrounding Ogygia helped me relax whenever I felt especially sad," Calypso explained. She glanced at Leo. "How about it?"

"Uhhhh… does that mean we'll have to take off our clothes?" Leo said stupidly. He felt his cheeks burning, perhaps literally.

"It's OK, it's dark," Calypso giggled. "What, you scared? Surely I can't have found Leo Valdez' weakness?"

Leo couldn't turn down a challenge.

He began to undress and Calypso followed suit. But he tried not to look, to be respectful – despite Calypso not having said he couldn't. When he heard a splash of water he finally stole a glance; he caught a glimpse of her bare back and waist. Even though her immortality was being questioned, she looked like a goddess underneath the gentle moonlight. When the water level reached just above her chest she called out to Leo to tell him to hurry up, and who was he to disobey?

The water was cool and biting, but it was bearable and refreshing. He waded over to Calypso and stopped when they were standing face to face. Leo was slightly taller than her, which was always an ego boost.

"You know… they say the water feels less cold when you put your head under," Leo said, but found himself whispering. It was as if any sound could ruin the captivating sight in front him.

"OK," replied Calypso, her gaze fixated on Leo. At once, in sync, as one they submerged into the water. Out of interest, Leo tried to create fire in his hands. Much to his shock, it worked for a split second. But that was enough for it to light up the water, and Leo saw… well, a _lot._

When they resurfaced, Leo immediately began to apologise.

"Schist, Calypso I didn't realise that would actually work, I swear, I'm not a pervert!" Leo babbled. Calypso silenced him by placing a finger on his lips.

"It was both ways," she said, and Leo swore she winked. He swallowed.

"So… you're not gonna kill me?"

"Please! You've done far more annoying things," Calypso assured. "Just think of it was a quick preview."

"P-Preview?" Leo stammered. But Calypso only laughed, and started swimming further out to sea.

* * *

They didn't go Camp Half-Blood next. Festus treated them to another rollercoaster ride à la bronze dragon, and they stopped off in Lisbon. After that, they nipped over to Venice (no _way_ were they going back to Rome after last time), followed by Berlin, Bern, Vienna and Budapest. They encountered a few monsters but it was few and far between, and it seemed like even the few they met were half-defeated already – Gaia's fall was still hitting them hard. They ran out of money in Lisbon (Leo had run dry of euros and of course Calypso didn't bring any money), so as a source of income Calypso sang as a busker. Her voice was so hypnotic and captivating that she earned enough to treat them to a restaurant and new clothes. Leo was as mesmerized by her voice each time as he was the first time. It never got old.

While enjoying the sunshine in a countryside in France, Calypso asked again.

"I really want to see Camp Half-Blood, Leo," Calypso sighed. She was wearing a green sundress she had bought at a market stall, and she looked wonderful in Leo's opinion.

"I ought to go," Leo admitted.

"So why aren't we?"

"I'm having too much fun with you," Leo grinned.

"So am I!" Calypso assured. "But it seems amazing there… being around people who are just like us."

She was right. Leo had robbed her of the right to be around other demigods long enough. It was time for them to go, and Leo to face his friends after being dead Gods know how long. He wondered if Apollo was still in trouble with the rest of the Olympians (maybe he was sent to Camp Half-Blood to replaced Dionysus? That would be hilarious). How was Jason getting on with building all those shrines for all the minor Gods? Were all the couples still together? Leo hoped so, then he wouldn't feel so bad when he rubbed his new relationship in their faces.

Indeed, he knew his life was destined to be with Calypso. But this would be in the treacherous world of demigods – more importantly, with the rest of his best friends.

"Let's go then," Leo said. Calypso blinked.

"Now?"

"Yeah! Why not?" He got up and strode over to a snoring Festus. "You ready for a long journey, buddy?"

Festus snorted sparks.

Calypso hurried over, ecstatic. Leo felt his heart stop for a second when he looked at her.

Dying had totally been worth it.

They hopped on and with their regular stance of Leo holding on and Calypso wrapping her arms around his torso. Close was comforting, and now, no longer awkward.

"Let's go!" Leo yelled, and Festus shot up into the air and soared. The familiar rush of the wind as they gained height was nothing compared to the euphoric swelling his chest as he knew he was going back home, with Calypso by his side. He wasn't sure what the Gods had in mind for his future, but as long as Calypso was there at every step of the way he was going to hit the ground running.

Behind him, Calypso screamed with fright, thrill and joy.

"I LOVE YOU, LEO VALDEZ!" she roared, rivalling Festus.

"I LOVE YOU TOO, CALYPSO!" Leo bellowed in response with no fear, no shame and no pretence.

In that exact moment, with Calypso clinging onto him for dear life and Festus spewing out healthy flames of fire, Leo could've died happy.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Hope you lovelies enjoyed it, please review to make me a little happier! :)**


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